Note! Your computer might be affected by Digital Coin Tracker and other threats.

Threats such as Digital Coin Tracker may be persistent on your system. They tend to re-appear if not fully deleted. A malware removal tool like SpyHunter will help you to remove malicious programs, saving you the time and the struggle of tracking down numerous malicious files.SpyHunter’s scanner is free but the paid version is needed to remove the malware threats. Read SpyHunter’s EULA and Privacy Policy

This article will aid you to remove Digital Coin Tracker fully. Follow the browser hijacker removal instructions at the end of the article.

The Digital Coin Tracker redirect is yet another browser hijacker developed by Polarity which is a well-known company that produces such malware. Our removal guide shows includes a complete analysis of the dangerous code.

Threat Summary

Name

Digital Coin Tracker

Type

Browser Hijacker, PUP

Short Description

This is a typical browser hijacker that aims to infect the web browsers and redirect the victims to a malware site.

Symptoms

Typical web browser settings are changed including the homepage, search engine and the new tabs page.

Digital Coin Tracker Redirect – Distribution Methods

The Digital Coin Tracker redirect is a newly discovered hijacker instance that has recently been reported by the security community. According to the preliminary overview available to us the hackers behind this particular hijacker seem to utilize the most popular tactics in order to attempt and infect as many victims as possible.

A primary strategy is the creation of browser plugins that are uploaded to the relevant repositories. The criminals tend to use counterfeit developer identities as well as fake user reviews in order to make it look like a legitimate item. One of the samples taken from the Chrome Web Store (used by Google Chrome) reads the following message:

Search and access popular crypto news quick links instantly from your new tab page! Search your favorite Crypto currency news instantly from your home and new tab page! Access Crypto currency news with just one click!

This extension configures your New Tab page to Digital Coin Tracker™. With it you can easily access your favorite Crypto currency news sites with one click of the mouse!

Another widely used option is the coordination of email spam messages that use social engineering messages in order to coerce the victims into interacting with the malware elements. This can be done in several different ways. The first one uses hyperlinks that can lead the victims to a Digital Coin Tracker redirect hosted instance. The other method is the direct attachment which aims to mainpulate the users into executing the companion data. It is usually masked as files of interest.

A related tactic is the distribution of infected documents. They are made in popular formats (rich text documents, spreadsheets and presentations) and pose as important messages, notifications, contracts and etc. Once they are opened by the victims a notification message is spawned which asks them to enable the built-in scripts (macros). If this is done the infection follows.

Other related techniques include the use of various web scripts that can infect the victims through the use of malware banners, ads, pop-ups and related elements.

Digital Coin Tracker Redirect – Technical Information

Once the Digital Coin Tracker redirect has infected the target computer the users will notice that their browser settings are changed. The next time they open their browser windows they will be redirected to the Digital Coin Tracker redirect page. This behavior is expected as the code is compatible with all popular web browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer. The basic changes include the manipulation of the default home page, new tabs page and search engine. After this is done the malware engine frequently is programmed to harvest all contained information:

Cookies.

Form Data.

Bookmarks.

Preferences.

History.

Passwords and account credentials.

A dangerous fact associated with threats of this type is that they can be used as intermediate payload delivery mechanisms for the infection with additional threats. Complex scenarios include the distribution of ransomware that encrypt sensitive files using a powerful cipher and then extorts the victims for a ransom fee. Another malware that can be deployed is the Trojan virus which can actively spy on the victims activity and also take control of the machines at any given time. The victims are presented with a home page that mimics a legitimate home page of a well-known Internet service. This is intentional as many computer users (especially beginner ones) may not be to differentiate between a real site and the counterfeit Digital Coin Tracker redirect one. The site itself consists of several main elements:

Top Menu Bar — This is placed at the top of the page and includes a small search engine box, alongside with current weather information and links cryptocurrency related sites.

Main Search Engine — This is the main interactive element which is intentionally made to capture the victim’s attention.

Bottom Menu Bar — It contains links to the service documents (privacy policy, terms of use and contact page)

As soon as the page is loaded in the browser a tracking cookie is immediately installed on the victim’s machine. It starts to actively track all users actions and send the acquired data to the site operators. We noticed that every individual victim is assigned a unique victim ID. This is the result of an information gatheing component which harvests data that is classified into two main categories:

Anonymous Data — This type is made up primarily of information about the installed hardware components and certain operating system configuration options.

Advanced threats similar to the Digital Coin Tracker redirect have been sighted to impact the victim operating system as well. This includes modifications to the Windows registry and certain configuration files which can cause a persistent state of execution. As a consequence the users may not be able to effectively remove the malware plugin using manual methods. They may face performance issues and face application error messages. A dangerous tactic used by many similar threats is the installaton of cryptocurrency miners. They take advantage of the machine’s resources to perform complex calculations that lead to generation of digital cryptocurrency for the criminals. This step is done once all preliminary behavior components have completed as it uses the obtained data from the information gathering module to load the most appropriate (optimized) miner.

Our analysis shows that the listed links in the top menu bar can be changed at will by the hacker operators. Usually they are correlated with the user’s interests (harvested by the information gathering module) and represent sponsored or affiliate links. A pay-per-click (PPC) system is enforced which generates income once the victims navigate to the sites. They can also be malware portals that can redirect the victims to other hacker-controlled sites or viruses. The test samples that we have obtained and tested lead to the following pages:

A slightly modified list is placed below the search engine which also includes a major e-commerce site. This is a clever strategy as the victims can be lured into using it to shop online. The hacker controllers usually include an affiliate cookie that makes a small percentage of income at every purchase. However if a Trojan module is installed it can hijack their account credentials. This in turn gives the possiblity to conduct crimes, among them identity theft and financial abuse.

Digital Coin Tracker Redirect – Privacy Policy

The privacy policy and terms of use documents showcase that the site is being operated by Polarity Technologies which is widely known as one of the biggest creators of browser hijackers like this one. Our analysis shows that the documents are shared between the different iteratons and their contents is the same. The policy states that the following information is obtained:

Email address

IP address

Home address (mailing address)

Search queries and all data you type in searches

Search data and specifics of searches

URLs and clicks

Browser type

Your name

Your geographic location

Your ISP (Internet Search Provider)

Communications preferences

Operating System (and other related data)

Remove Digital Coin Tracker Redirect Efficiently

To remove Digital Coin Tracker manually from your computer, follow the step-by-step removal instructions provided below. In case the manual removal does not get rid of the hijacker redirect and its files completely, you should search for and remove any leftovers with an advanced anti-malware tool. Such a program can keep your computer safe in the future.

Note! Your computer system may be affected by Digital Coin Tracker or other threats.Scan Your PC with SpyHunter SpyHunter is a powerful malware removal tool designed to help users with in-depth system security analysis, detection and removal of threats such as Digital Coin Tracker.Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.

To remove Digital Coin Tracker follow these steps:

1. Uninstall malicious programs from Windows

OFFER

Manual Removal Usually Takes Time and You Risk Damaging Your Files If Not Careful!

We Recommend To Scan Your PC with SpyHunter

Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria

How to Uninstall malicious programs from Windows:

Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs.No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:

Hold the Windows Logo Button and “R” on your keyboard. A Pop-up window will appear (fig.1).

In the field type in “appwiz.cpl” and press ENTER (fig.2).

This will open a window with all the programs installed on the PC. Select the program that you want to remove, and press “Uninstall” (fig.3).

Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.

2. Clean your Browser and Registry from Digital Coin Tracker

Remove Digital Coin Tracker by cleaning your Browser and Registry.

Remove an extension from Mozilla FirefoxRemove an extension from Google Chrome Remove an extension from Internet Explorer Remove an extension from Microsoft Edge Fix registry entries created by Digital Coin Tracker on your PC.

Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window

Select the “Add-ons” icon from the menu.

Select the unwanted extension and click “Remove“

After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red “X” button at the top right corner and start it again.

Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu

Move the cursor over “Tools” and then from the extended menu choose “Extensions“

From the opened “Extensions” menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its “Remove” button.

After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red “X” button at the top right corner and start it again.

Start Internet Explorer:

Click on the gear icon labeled ‘Tools’ to open the drop menu and select ‘Manage Add-ons’

In the ‘Manage Add-ons’ window.

Select the extension you want to remove and then click ‘Disable’. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click ‘Disable’.

After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red ‘X’ button located at the top right corner and start it again.

Start Edge

Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.

From the drop menu select “Extensions”.

Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.

Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.

Some malicious scripts may modify the registry entries on your computer to change different settings. This is why cleaning your Windows Registry Database is recommended. Since the tutorial on how to do this is a bit long and tampering with registries could damage your computer if not done properly you should refer and follow our instructive article about fixing registry entries, especially if you are unexperienced in that area.

IMPORTANT!Before starting the Automatic Removal below, please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode. This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.

It is recommended to run a scan before purchasing the full version of the software to make sure that the current version of the malware can be detected by SpyHunter. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.

Step 2: Guide yourself by the download instructions provided for each browser.

Step 3: After you have installed SpyHunter, wait for it to update automatically.

Step 1: After the update process has finished, click on the ‘Malware/PC Scan’ tab. A new window will appear. Click on ‘Start Scan’.

Step 2: After SpyHunter has finished scanning your PC for any files of the associated threat and found them, you can try to get them removed automatically and permanently by clicking on the ‘Next’ button.

Step 3: If any threats have been removed, it is highly recommended to restart your PC.

Back up your data to secure it against attacks in the future

IMPORTANT! Before reading the Windows backup instructions, we highly recommend to back up your data with a cloud backup solution and insure your files against any type of loss, even from the most severe threats. We recommend you to read more about it and to download SOS Online Backup.